Saturday Plans

I think I'm sorta starting a Stitcher's Guild 6-PAC, but I tend to sew/buy in "PAC"s anyway, so it's not going to be anything unusual for me. SWAPs and I don't get along, but I love me a 6-pack. Er … ;-)

Another Magic Pencil Skirt is still on the short list, but there's a few items ahead of it only because of fabric choice (non-stretch) and sewing for money (I have 2 wallets on order).

Backing up a bit, I went to Beall's last night to return the $$ jeans I didn't keep. And, of course, I browsed. And tried on. I really wanted the b/w houndstooth skirt I found, but it was not to be. The 16 fit great in the waist (even a little loose) and length, but was a little too snug across the hips. The 18 fell off me. I could've bought the 16 and waited (or heaven forbid — exercised!), but where's the fun in that? I'm all for instant gratification in my wardrobe choices. It was also not the most wonderfully made, but that's to be expected and only a stitcher would notice these things — even though it was off-grain enough that the checks were going uphill at the bottom edge hem. I pouted a little but I put it back and consoled myself with a pretty ivory/metallic cardigan, a coordinating ivory sweaterknit tank, a purple sweater I'm still on the fence about, and a gray/ivory floral lacy knit tee which I hope matches a gray RTW skirt I've been holding waiting to either sew or buy a coordinate. These purchases were free, of course, since I had just returned the jeans, returned the ruffly cardi to Walmart, and also sent boots back to Zappos. In fact, I think I may even come out ahead. Does anyone else do shopping math like this? ;-)

So, while the houndstooth I really wanted was big and contrast-y (and if anyone knows of some fabric somewhere, let me know!), I knew I had a small houndstooth in my recently-acquired pile of fabrics.

But since it's not stretchy at all, I opted for the TNT Burda pencil skirt instead of the Magic pattern. I'm also going to make the Vogue/Marci Tilton cascade cardi in the brown ponte knit. This will coordinate with the houndstooth and also exactly match the Magic Pencil skirt made from this fabric before my trip. I haven't actually checked to see that I actually have enough knit left so this plan may be modified. I hope not, because I've been wanting to make this MT cardi since I "found" it in an old Threads. I'm in the middle of cutting out the skirt, single layer, and will return to that after I finish this post.

Here's another pic from our trip. Tyler and Alex braved Walmart at midnight on Black Friday to buy a BA (Big @$$) TV, which Tyler already has set up in his barracks room and connected to cable and internet and the new PS3 he bought during the week.

Speaking (sorta) of technology, I'm happy to report that my Kindle Fire was everything I wanted on our trip. I downloaded some movies onto it for Alex to watch while I drove and it performed flawlessly and the downloads were very quick. I think I can fit 5-6 full-length movies on it at one time. You can switch between on-device and Cloud storage if you're going to be watching more than 6 movies in a sitting. I can guarantee that I will never do that. My butt and brain would fall asleep.

I also enabled my Droid phone to be a mobile wi-fi hotspot which was extremely easy and the Fire found it just fine. I was going to blog while away, but it was just too much of a pain to deal with photos. I need to investigate better methods before any future trips. For those who are wondering, with Verizon, the wi-fi option for the phone costs $20 extra per month, but you can enable/disable it per month so you don't have to pay for it when you're not going to be using it.Tyler was also using the wi-fi to Facebook from his laptop.

So far, the only "cons" with the Fire are (1) e-books are expensive and (2) my library only lets you keep borrowed e-books for 2 weeks and there's a waiting list for most of them. I'm complaining about the 2-week limit only because hard copies can be borrowed for 3 weeks at a time and I think it should match. Otherwise, it's really pretty adequate. I've got about 8 free books and some magazines loaded on it right now and it's not like I'm hurting for reading material. Does anyone know if you've purchased e-books, can you lend them among friends like hard copies?

Another option I've found on the Fire is that not only is brightness adjustable, but you can set the "page" to be off-white with less-contrast-y text. I think this would work fine for those who don't want to read a screen and maybe it's similar to eInk?? I don't know as I still haven't seen what that looks like, but this setting seems to be very book-like to me. There's also an option for a black page with white text if that's your thing. It isn't mine. ;-)

Parting Shot: The Marine sporting his favorite things: (1) white dress cover; (2) Spiderman anything; and (3) his new Cap'n Crunch tat (his nickname is Cap'n from years ago). He thought he was going to surprise/shock me with his new (and first) tattoo when he saw me, but my mother's intuition told me he had already done the deed and I guessed it before he had a chance to unveil. Seeing his face when I guessed out of the blue was priceless. Hahaha. I know that "kid" so well. Now that's he gotten the first, I expect a Marine moto or Spidey tat to be added soon. But the Corps mandates that any new tattoo not show while wearing the issued PT (physical training) uniform (short shorts and a tee), so whatever he gets will still be covered unless he's shirtless or shortless.